The gaming industry has long been trying to develop slot type games that are more exciting to play and thus more likely to be played and generate revenue.
For example, spinning reel wagering games are well known in the prior art and have long been a staple of the gaming industry. These games utilize one or more actual or apparent cylindrical reels that spin around an axis in response to the player's insertion of, or the player's activation of the game after insertion of, a coin or other method of payment to play the game. Game symbols are displayed on the outer circumference of the wheels. Typically, the game is won and a prize is awarded when the game symbols on the reels provide a particular predetermined outcome shown when the reels stop spinning. As a result, a three-wheel game might provide a large award to the player if the outcome is three apples in a row displayed by the three co-axial and adjacent wheels viewable to the player.
These spinning reel games can be made more exciting for the player, and thus more likely to be played, by addition of features such as flashing lights, sounds, double bonus time-periods, and progressive linking of multiple such games to a common jackpot in addition to the local jackpot for each machine on its own. These methods of making spinning reel games more exciting and thus more utilized are well known in the art. However, they still present the game player with only one basic game concept: the spinning reel game.
One way of making spinning reel or other slot type games (e.g., video poker) even more exciting and likely to be played is to offer an additional game that may be played in the event of a particular outcome in the underlying reel game. In one prior art gaming apparatus, such as that shown in UK Patent Application GB 2 201 821 A, a particular outcome or group of outcomes on the underlying spinning reel game allows the user to play a second but different type of game of chance mounted in the same machine or game box. The second game of chance is a spinning or roulette wheel type of game. In this fashion, the player may win a prize or award in the outcome underlying spinning reel game and then, due to that outcome, also procure the ability to play the second, different type of game and procure an additional prize or award based on the outcome of the second game.
In another somewhat similar prior art gaming apparatus, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,874 (the '874 game), the second game of chance, which is also a spinning wheel type of game, is playable upon the occurrence of a particular outcome or group of outcomes in the underlying spinning reel game. In the '874 game, however, the outcome of the second game may directly alter the outcome of the first game and thus directly increase or decrease an award, or provide a different type of award than that provided, in the first game.
Although these types of prior art multiple game-of-chance apparatus can be more exciting than the traditional spinning reel device by itself and more exciting than other one-game slot machines such as game-card (e.g., video poker) machines, the applicant has discovered that much more can be done with multiple game-of-chance machines to make them much more exciting to play, more likely to be played, and more profitable for the game owner or gaming establishment. For example, in the device disclosed in the above-referenced British application, the second, roulette-wheel game has only one conventional roulette wheel and one set of or type of outcomes and awards provided by that one wheel game. In addition, the outcome of the first, base game does not affect the outcome or likely or possible future outcomes of the second game or vice versa.
Although the '874 patent teaches different types of awards in the second wheel game, including direct alteration of the outcome of the base reel game, the range of types of outcomes in the second wheel game is relatively narrow. In addition, the second wheel game does not provide an outcome that can allow for re-playing of the underlying first reel game. The second game also does not provide “appearance” outcomes that can be transferred directly to, for example, the underlying reel game or intermediate gaming apparatus to alter the positioning of the reels and the concomitant award to be provided based on the altered positioning of the reels in the first game. The '874 machine also offers no possibility for the outcome in the second game to allow the player to resume playing the underlying wheel game, nor does it offer the subsequent possibility for the underlying wheel game to yet again provide an outcome to once again play the reel game.
With regard to roulette or spinning wheel games in the prior art, they typically also have the wheels mounted at their axial center on axial drive shafts. Mounting and rotating the wheel on an axial drive places significant stress on the drive shaft and associated drive and support structure. Also, an axial mount and drive mechanism is typically noisy and easily damaged or moved off-center during use or installation or movement of the game apparatus. Axial mounting also occupies significant space for the axial drive behind the wheel, and it requires significant additional and complicated structure in order to drive multiple concentric wheels independently.